Women in the Battle of Adwa

Adwa, the very first decisive victory of a black African power, is an important event in the shared memory of the entire African population. It demonstrated the spirit of unity, love and friendship among Ethiopians; but foremost, it showed the genuine role of women.

Women marched alongside men to the battle at Adwa 127 years ago not as “comfort women”, but to fight against the Italian army. Just like their men-folk, Ethiopian women were ready to sacrifice themselves to prevent colonialists from sneaking into their country, thus forcing their children to live in servitude.

Women were preparing food and water, providing medical care for the wounded and they were following the solders with a slogan of  ‘ freedom or death’.

Detail of the Battle of Adwa

Empress Taytu Bitul was clearly symbolic of the best patriotic qualities of women. Taytu was not only a diplomat and stateswoman with resolve, but also an ingenious commandant versed in the art of war, a tactician par excellence.

Taytu was a strong-willed woman who forged a powerful alliance with her husband, promoting his career and then replacing him when he was incapacitated. Taytu was a remarkable power in her own right: she had a private army and large land holding, she also held a dominant position in determining Ethiopian Orthodox Church policy. 

She opposed Menelik’s conciliatory attitude toward the Italians who had imperial designs on Ethiopia.  She scored a significant victory at an Italian-built fort in Mekelle, where she defeated the Italians by cutting off their water supply.  She then took part in their decisive defeat at Adwa in 1895.

Emperor and Empress of Ethiopia shown during the Battle of Atwa

Portrait of Empress Taytu Bitul

Awa Victory Day is a national holiday in Ethiopia, which is observed on March 2nd every year.  This day celebrates Ethiopia’s victory over Italy in the year 1896.  People pay tribute to their ancestors who helped present-day Ethiopians secure their independence from European rule. This day is an important milestone as it stands for the celebration of Ethiopian sovereignty. People dwa Victory Day is a national holiday in Ethiopia, which is observed on March 2 every year.  This day celebrates Ethiopia’s victory over Italy in the year 1896.  People pay tribute to their ancestors who helped present-day Ethiopians secure their independence from European rule. This day is an important milestone as it stands for the celebration of Ethiopian sovereignty. People come out into the streets, hold parades, and retell old tales. 

Celebrating Adwa Victory Day Photo Credit: Xinhua

She Who Wrote: Enheduanna

A new exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum highlights the women of Mesopotamia and their roles in religion as goddesses, priestesses, and worshippers as well as in social, economic and political spheres as mothers, workers, and rulers.

One remarkable woman of the period was the priestess and poet Enheduanna (ca. 2300 B.C.) 

Disc of Enheduanna White calcite Calcite disk, Ur, circa 2300 BCE, found in a 1927 archaeological excavation that uncovered a temple complex dedicated to the moon god, Nanna. The inscription on the back of the disk identifies the central figure as Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon.

Not much is known about the early life of Enheduanna. As the daughter of Sargon the Great she was given the best education available. She could read and write in both Sumerian and Akkadian. She was also trained to do mathematical calculations.

Enheduanna’s father, perhaps because of her brilliant and creative genius, appointed her the high priestess at the temple of the moon god, Inanna, in the city of Ur. 

Cylinder seal (modern impression) with goddesses Ninishkun and Ishtar, Mesopotamia, Akkadian period (ca. 2334–2154 BC) Limestone. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, acquired 1947; A27903.  This ancient Akkadian cylinder seal shows goddess Inanna crushing a lion.

As the high priestess in the city of Ur, Enheduanna not only presided over religious festivals and interpreted sacred dreams, but she also supervised construction projects. In this position, she would also have traveled to other cities in the empire. 

Enheduanna was also charged with the task of reconciling the gods of the Akkadians with the gods of the Sumerians so that the important city of Ur would acquiesce to Sargon’s rule. Not only did she succeed in that difficult task, but she also established standards of poetry and prayer that would profoundly influence the Hebrew Bible.

In her writing Enheduanna identifies herself and speaks in the first person. She produced a number of timeless epic poems and three famous religious hymns which translate as The Great-Hearted Mistress, The Exaltation of Inanna, and Goddess of the Fearsome Powers, all three powerful hymns to the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna. 

While there were previous instances of poems and stories written down, Enheduanna was the first to sign a name to her work. She certainly deserves the honor as the world’s first known poet and first known author.

The Resilience of Fig Trees

Figs are one of the most prominent fruits in the Bible, popping up repeatedly and inviting us to consider what they represent.

Farming figs requires care, patience and maintenance, fertilizing and pruning. The shoots that pop up like periscopes must be trimmed, and many varieties won’t bear fruit until the fourth year.  New shoots can be propagated to grow a new fig tree.

New fig tree growing from a shoot

Fig trees can live for centuries and grow to enormous heights.

Cathedral Pine in Danbulla National Park Credit:  Mike Prociv @ Queensland Government

With a crown as big as 2 Olympic swimming pools towering nearly 50m over you, this mighty 500-year-old fig tree will take your breath away.

As you stroll along the boardwalk, gaze into the roots and canopy of this rainforest giant. See if you can spot some of the plentiful wildlife.

Fig trees are often regarded as keystone resources in tropical landscapes. For they bear fruit year-round and are one of the few reliable sources available for resident as well as migrant birds and other animals.

Ripe figs smell lovely and attract a host of animals to feed on them.

The common fig contains only female flowers and propagates without pollination, but within the family, there are hundreds of varieties. The fruit may be oval or pear-shaped and may be white, green, red or purplish-black.

Parrots eating figs in a fig tree

Squirrel eating figs Credit: Dreamtime

Fig trees may be even more essential in urban landscapes with rapidly diminishing green cover and related reduction of fruiting trees.

Fig tree in Nairobi Credit: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

Four stores-high fig tree centuries old was saved by environmental activists after being threatened by Kenya’s roads agency to make way for an expressway.  The environmentalists explained that this tree was a beacon of Kenya’s cultural and ecological heritage. 

A lesson for us all.

Bella da Costa Green

I just finished reading The Personnel Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. This book is about the little known personal librarian for J.P. Morgan. In the early 1900’s Belle worked in JP Morgan’s library acquiring rare books and manuscripts that were priceless works of art. A job almost completely unheard of in a time when women didn’t even have the right to vote! She was also a “colored ” woman masquerading as white. She kept her African-American heritage secret to protect her family from racial persecution.

1921 photograph of Bella Da Costa Green © Bettmann/CORBIS

1921 article in the Omaha Bee newspaper about Belle da Costa Greet Credit: Library of Congress

Portrait of Bella da Costa Greene by Paul Helleu

The story includes details about Bella’s rise through New York’s high society including her affair with Bernard Berenson, a married man. If you enjoy historical fiction I recommend this book.

The Merchant House

The Merchant House is considered one of the finest surviving examples of architecture from the Antebellum period, and has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In New York City, it has been awarded landmark status not only for its 1832 late-Federal brick exterior but also for its Greek revival interior rooms.

The house was built for Seabury Treadwell who spent $18,000 on its construction. Mr. Treadwell made his money as a merchant of hardware.  The house has four floors with the original gasoliers (gas chandeliers) and Rococo Revival furniture.  The second floor has two parlors with chairs designed by Duncan Phyfe. Mr. and Mrs. Treadwell had separate bedrooms. 

The front parlor in The Merchant House Photo by by Denis Viasov

Second floor bedroom in The Merchant House

The family had 8 children who lived in four bedrooms on the third floor.  The four servants were Irish Catholic girls who had to climb the steep stairs to their fourth floor rooms.  In the 1830’s Irish were on the lowest rung of the social ladder; the contempt towards members of this large immigrant group was strenuous and prevalent.

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Merchant House had no electricity or running water.  There were chamber pots of the family and a privy out back for the servants’ use.  The kitchen had a cast iron stove and a bee have oven

The youngest daughter Gertrude Treadwell (shown below) was born in the house in 1840. She never married and maintained the home until her death in 1933. 

When the house was threatened with demolition, a distant nephew named George Chapman bought the house and turned it into a museum in 1936. 

Once again The Merchant House is threaten with destruction as modern construction next door is being planned. You can watch a full video tour of The Merchant House at this address:

Exciting Discoveries in Egypt

Saqqara Necropolis Photo credit: Dreamstime.com

Archaeologists have unearthed at least 59 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, at a vast necropolis south of Cairo.  Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister, Khaled el-Anany,  said Saturday that they had been buried in three wells more than 2,600 years ago.

The Saqqara plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920 BCE-2770 BCE) to the Coptic period (395-642).

Khaled el-Anany spoke at a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara where the coffins were found. The sarcophagi have been displayed and one of them was opened before reporters to show the mummy inside. Several foreign diplomats attended the announcement ceremony.

Several sarcophagi are displayed inside a tomb at the Saqqara archaeological site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt Credi: APPhoto/Mahmoud Khaled

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities showing mummy inside sarcophagi Credit: AP Photo

Credit: AP Photo

Waziri explained the team had uncovered the three shafts where the coffins were laid in “perfect condition” due to a protective seal that preserved them from chemical reactions.

Viewers of sarcophai at Saqqara necropolis Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo

Waziri said archaeologists also found a total of 28 statuettes of Ptah-Soker the main god of the Saqqara necropolis, and a beautifully carved 35 cm tall bronze statuette of God Nefertum inlaid with valuable precious stones: red agate, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. 

Statue of Nefertum Photo Courtesy, Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities

This new discovery is the latest in a series of archeological finds that Egypt has sought to publicize in an effort to boast tourism.

Cowgirl Hall of Fame: Caroline Lockhart

Caroline Lockhart was a journalist, bestselling Western author, rodeo founder, homesteader, and cattle queen. Her lifelong quest was to live the life of a cowgirl: independent, on horseback, in the beautiful, open country of the West. 

As the first female reporter for the Boston Post, she took wild and dangerous assignments, such as being the first woman to dive in a deep diving suit into Boston harbor and jumping out a fourth floor window to test the fire department’s safety nets. 

In the 1900s and 1910s, she became friends with Buffalo Bill and a number of “real” Westerners. She went on multi-day horse packing trips to places like Wyoming’s Hole-in-the-Wall, home of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, potentially dangerous destinations for a woman alone. She translated her local nonfiction success to a career as a nationally bestselling novelist with titles like The Lady Doc. Two of her novels The Fighting Shepherdess and The Man from the Bitter Roots were made into major movies. 

In 1920, she returned to journalism when she purchased the Cody Enterprise newspaper, originally founded by Buffalo Bill. Her journalism, exploring issues such as Prohibition, was as vibrant as her fiction.  She was, in short, a controversial figure, but a woman with the passion, gumption, and money to get things done.  She was elected President of the Cody Stampede. 

At age 55, she retreated from Cody to homestead the L Slash Heart Ranch in the southeast reaches of Montana’s Pryor Mountains. It was an incredibly hard place to run cattle. Starting with 160 acres, she gradually expanded to over 6,000 acres through purchases and leases. In 1936, three loads of Lockhart steers topped the market in Omaha. Despite her literary, organizational, business, and civic successes, she saw this accomplishment as a highlight in her life, becoming a cattle queen. Although she had many suitors throughout her life, Lockhart never married; she remained independent to the end. She died at the age of 91 in 1962.

Lockhart Ranch house outside Cody, Wyoming as it stands today.

Feminist History of Illustrating Plants

Most people are unaware of several talented women who worked in the field of botany as early as the 18^thcentury. 

Consider Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) Maria was an extremely enterprising and independent German woman.  In 1699, along with her daughter, she travelled to Surinam to carry out research into the reproduction and development of insects. She is now regarded as both a highly gifted artist and an exceptional empirical scientist, one of the first to demolish the prevailing notion of the spontaneous generation of insects from mud.

Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian

Since women were not allowed to sell paintings in oils in many German cities, Maria became skilled at watercolor and gouache. She was the first to portray caterpillars and butterflies with the plants that nourished them.  Maria’a book, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium,was published in 1705 in both Latin and Dutch with colored engravings.  Marian paid the production costs her self and acted as the publisher.  

Maria’a book, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium,was published in 1705 in both Latin and Dutch with colored engravings.  Marian paid the production costs her self and acted as the publisher.  Two folio editions of 254 aquarelles by Marian were taken to Saint Petersburg for Peter the Great’s personal physician.

Ananas mit Kakerlake (Pineapple with cockroach) by Merian (c. between 1701 and 1705) Hand coloured copper engraving

Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft (October 29, 1791 – May 16, 1828) was an American botanist who devoted herself to creating richly detailed illustrations and descriptions of the botanical specimens she found on Cuba. Her work culminating in a remarkable three-volume manuscript entitled, Specimens of the Plants & Fruit of the Island of Cuba. This book was never published and went missing for 190 years. It was recently discovered at Cornell Library’s division of rare manuscripts.  The book includes 121 watercolor plants with detailed notes.

Page from Specimens of the Plants & Fruits of the Island of Cuba by Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft.  Credit:  Cornell University.

Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft   Credit: Cornell Division of Rare Manuscripts

Just as remarkable was Mary Delany (May 14, 1700- April 15, 1788), an English woman whose collection of intricate paper collages of plant life are now in the British Museum.  Mary Delany created dramatic and precise collages, made from colored paper, much of which she had dyed herself. The works were then mounted on black backgrounds. Describing her method in a letter to her niece dated October 4th, 1772, she wrote: “I have invented a new way of imitating flowers”. She was then 72. In ten years times Mary Delaney completed nearly 1,000 cut-paper botanicals so accurate that botanists still refer to them – each one so energetically dramatic that it seems to leap out from the dark as on to a lit stage.

Portrait of Mary Delany by John Opie, 1782 

Asphodi Lilly paper collage by Mary Delany     Photo: © Trustees of the British Museum

Beatrix Potter (July 28, 1866 –December 22, 1943), famous for The Tale of Peter Rabbitand other children’s books, has been underappreciated for her contribution to science and natural history.  In her early twenties, Beatrix developed a keen interest in mycology and began producing incredibly beautiful drawings of fungi.  She taught herself the proper technique for accurate botanical illustration.  

When she wanted to present her scientific work to London’s Linnean Society she needed to have her uncle do the presentation because women were barred from membership.  The paper never got peer-review and was dismissed as not worthy of consideration. A century later the Linnean Society apologized for its historic sexism. 

Beatrix Potter’s drawing of Hygrophorus puniceus Credit:   Armitt Museum and Library

Beatrix Potter’s drawing of Lepiota friesii   Credit:  Armitt Museum and Library

The female amateur botanists and naturalists of earlier eras didn’t just reproduce knowledge. They took what they learned and used the traditionally feminine skills they already had—along with their keen powers of observation—to create something better, and new.

Undersea Graveyards

Everyone has seen popular photographs showing the wreck of the Titanic, but here are some lesser known shipwrecks:

Panoramic view of the cargo deck inside the SS Thistlegorm Credit: Tobias Friedrich/UPY 2018

Undersea “graveyard” of British WWII  Norton 16H motorbikes reclining on the deck of a British munitions ship that German bombers sank in the Red Sea on October 6, 1941. The seemingly perfectly-aligned cycles, which were part of the ship’s lost cargo, had long captivated photographer Tobias Friedrich, who painstakingly figured out how to capture the entire deck in one image.

Restored British Norton 16H motorbike

SS Justicia

The SS Justicia was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, this former British troopship was torpedoed by German U-boats six times before rolling on to her starboard side and sinking.

Bow of SS Justicia on coast of Ireland Photo by Rick Ayrton/ Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019

SS Umbria (formerly SS Bahia Blanca)

The SS Umbria was a maritime transport built in 1912 in Germany.  The ship was acquired by Argentina and transported various goods across the Atlantic until 1934.  It was then purchased by Italy and arrived in Port Said, Egypt in 1940 carrying 6000 tons of bombs, 100 tons of various weaon and 600 cases of detonators.  In June two British warships forced the Umbia to anchor near Port Sudan on pretext of searching for contraband.  When the ship’s captain heard on the radio that Italy had joined the war with Nazi Germany, he gave the crew orders to sink the ship.

Since the SS Umbria lies on her port side at a depth of 125 fee she is considered one of the best wrecks in the world.

SS Umbria wreck in Sudan Photo by Nadya Kulagina/Underwater Photographer of the Year

Before WWII the Japanese Nakajima B5N plane was faster, flew farther and carried a heavier payload than either of its British or American contemporaries  Reaching the frontline service in mid-1943, the Nakajima B6N Tenzan (Heavenly Mountain to its Japanese crews, and “Jill” to the Allies) was a considerable improvement in speed and range over the B5N and carried the same 800 Kg bomb load or torpedo.

Nakajima B6N Tenzan by AliceFromLake

Wreck of Japanese Nakajima B6N “Jill” Bomber – Photo by Marcus Blatchford

 

Fastest Girl on Earth

1905 photograph of Dorothy Levitt

In an era long before women were thought capable of doing much of anything, Dorothy Levitt decided that she wanted to do it all. Avid horseback rider, self-styled motoriste, race car driver, boat racer, journalist and amateur aviator, Levitt was a woman well before her era and, at the same time, exactly what Edwardian Britain needed.

Dorothy Levitt raced cars for the Napier team in Britain and Europe between 1903 and 1908, as well as setting women’s speed and distance records in Napier and De Dion cars.

She even taught Queen Alexandra of Denmark and the royal princesses how to drive.

In 1902 she was employed as a secretary at the Napier & Sons works in England where she was engaged initially on a temporary basis and then promoted to personal assistant by Selwyn Edge. It was Edge who instigated her career in motoring, arranged for six months of training in Paris and provided her with cars in order to promote their dealership.  Since all Napier drivers were required to undertake any necessary maintenance during a race trail, Edge had to ensure Levitt was also proficient in mechanics.

Dorothy Levitt in her dust coat making a repair.

In 1903 Levitt became the first British woman to take part in a speed competition when she made her début in speed races at the Southport Speed Trials where she won the class for cars priced between £400 and £550 in her four-seater Gladiator.

12 hp Gladiator car which Dorothy Levitt drove in a series of reliability trials in 1903

Levitt established the record for the “longest drive achieved by a lady driver”. Her diary records that February 1905:  Did Liverpool and back to London in two days, averaging a level 20 miles per hour throughout for the entire 411 miles.

Hand colored postcard image of Dorothy Levitt driving a Napier at the Brighton Speed Trials in July 1905 setting new Ladies World Land Speed record of 79.75 miles an hour.

The highlight of Levitt’s year was at the Blackpool Speed Trial in October when she broke her own Women’s World Speed Record. Her diary entry reads: Broke my own record and created new world’s record for women at Blackpool. Ninety horse-power six cylinder Napier. Racing car. Drove at rate of 91 miles an hour. Had near escape as front part of bonnet worked loose and, had I not pulled up in time, might have blown back and beheaded me. Was presented with a cup by the Blackpool Automobile Club and also a cup by S. F. Edge, Limited.

Miss Dorothy Levitt in a 26 hp Napier, 1908

Levitt became the leading exponent of a woman’s “right to motor” and in 1909 published The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Hand Book for Women Who Motor or Want to Motor.  You can still purchased a faithfully reproduced classic of this publication from Amazon.

Levitt also gave many lectures to encourage women to take up motoring. Her book contained many tips, including carrying a ladies hand mirror, to “occasionally hold up to see what is behind you”. Thus, she can be said to have pioneered the rear view mirror seven years before it was adopted by car manufacturers.

Levitt raced dressed in flattering feminine outfits complete with co-coordinating hat, veil and a lightweight coat, which became popularly known as a dust coat for overall protection of her fashionable clothes.

She encouraged the ‘lady driver’ to approach the newfangled contraption without fear.  Her book provided a step-by-step process on how to get started. Most troubles that would plague a driver on the road are discussed, as well as how to fix them and what tools you’d need (because women are fully capable of some simple repairs).

Her book included helpful photographs:

Advice for Female Drives from Dorothy Levitt, 1909

Dorothy Levitt’s determination to show that women were just as deserving of the pleasures of the automobile as men enabled countless women, from Royal birth to the everyday citizen, to get behind the wheel.